Sixty-Something: About Daylight Saving Time

Although forms of Daylight Saving Time go back to ancient times, it is often credited as being the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin. That being when he proposed it in a 1784 letter to the editor of the “Journal of Paris.” In a “tongue in cheek” kind of article, Dr. Franklin explained moving the clocks back in the summer might save wax from burning candles. However, it wasn’t until 1918 that the United States officially adopted daylight saving time. There was some fine-tuning and extending dates coming in the 1970s due the world energy crisis.

This coming week when I do my last sunset sails of the 2021 Gardiner’s Bay sailing season I will be taking the sun setting pictures around 4:37 pm. That is the time I usually start heading out to go sailing in the summer months.

My first recollection of daylight saving was back in my early school years when going to school in the fall. That first school day I enjoyed the extra sleep. Sadly, that first day in the Spring it seemed ungodly to be starting the trek to school at what felt to be more than an hour earlier. It was always more pleasant to feel the extra hour of sleep of the fall season than the disheveled feeling of walking around the house searching for my clothes and book-bag in the dark an hour earlier than usual.

When I was an altar boy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Pelham Manor, the big church that stands today was not yet built. Mass was held in a converted home of the Grant family that owned the then-popular department store W.T. Grant. Grant’s was founded by William Thomas Grant in 1906 and lasted until they closed their doors in 1976 because of bankruptcy. Believe it or not he opened his first store in Lynn, Massachusetts. That is the same town the founders of Southampton and East Hampton came from in 1640. While serving mass at OLPH on the first day of daylight saving time, which is a Sunday, half the folks never knew what mass they were at. Back then there was no internet or electric clocks that automatically adjusted. It was much easier to forget to manually change the clocks. I remember Father Schully annually starting the service by turning around and saying “this is the 9 o’clock mass not the 8 o’clock mass!”

Later on in my life, I worked in the family rag business which at one time employed 136 people. That first Monday after daylight savings in the Spring had half the crew coming in late due to missing buses or trains. Then in the Fall, the first Monday after daylight savings everyone would be waiting in front of the factory early drinking coffee.

While living in Montauk the walking of my dog was affected by daylight savings. In the Spring it was suddenly dark in the morning when he would jump on the bed and hit my face with his paw that was basically my two-minute warning to take him out. Especially in the fall his evening walk along Ditch Plains beach was tough. Heading east I had to navigate around the many rocks in total darkness.

Driving home from work in total darkness the first few days of standard time is becoming more challenging as I age. I prefer driving in the sunlight. These days it seems all the new cars either have extremely bright regular headlights or just drive with their bright headlights on. On the dark Hamptons winding roads that can be annoying.

Finally, there is the process of changing the car clock, the microwave clocks, the refrigerator clock and the cuckoo clock along with my wrist watches. It is always a blast to remember the process of getting them to the right time in the am or pm.